Close Targets Within 30 Yards

It seems there has been a big issue of students who come to clinics or lessons and always want to learn to shoot the farther targets. But I ask, “Can you shoot all the targets that are within 30 yards?”

For most of them, the response is “Not good enough.”

You must come off the course saying “I didn’t miss any of the close targets.”

Because if you hit all the close ones and half of the not-close ones, you will have a very nice score. But no one wants to practice the close ones.

What’s up with that? The close ones are the ones you have to have. Just like in golf, it’s the short game that wins.

By the time we left Florida, our instructions for the students were to always have a goal for the practice and then end with the last 50 targets being those close ones.

Master the close ones and be sure you can shoot and hit five pairs in a row. If you go through three pairs and miss one, start over and don’t leave that station until you have shot ten targets in a row. Make your practice worthwhile – not just shooting – and have a plan for each target.

Make sure the brain knows what you are asking it to do. Be specific with which side of the barrel the target is to be on, either across the barrel or to the left side of the barrel for the right-handed shooter and to the right of the barrel and across the barrel for the left-hander.

If you will be stubborn with this picture when you take the shot and make the barrel and target go the same speed at the end, you will have a lot more fun as well as a lot more Xs on your scorecard.

Get out and enjoy this wonderful game.